Living The Dream……..

I recently set aside some time on a Saturday to get my car repaired. After dropping my Toyota off at the garage, I immediately headed across the street to a Subway sandwich shop for lunch. What transpired over the next few minutes I will not easily forget, and I hope it impacts you as positively as it did me.

It was about 11am when I stepped up to the counter and was greeted by the smiling sandwich maker:

“Welcome to Subway!” exclaimed the sandwich maker. “What would you like today?

“I’ll take a ham & cheese foot-long with american cheese,” I replied.

“White or whole wheat bread?”

“White, please.”

“Outstanding!” replied the sandwich maker. “And what else would you like on your sandwich, Sir?”

“I’ll take lettuce, tomato, mayo, a little bit of mustard, and some onions.”

“Not a problem,” exclaimed the sandwich maker. And there I watched him make my sandwich with a smile on his face and a look of peace & contentment that you rarely see these days, especially on the face of someone working in a fast food establishment.

He looked me in the eye with a big grin and replied, “Hey….I’m just living the dream….” And he strolled back down the sandwich line to help the next customer.

As I sat in Subway eating my sandwich, I couldn’t help but to continue watching him. Every customer who ordered a sandwich was treated with the same respect, great attitude and enthusiasm.

Living the dream. How does one define it? How do you define it? I think it’s fair to say that there are several factors that people typically consider when defining it for themselves.

Like money. Lots of money. And all the toys that go with it; a brand new Mercedes (or two), a beautiful Victorian style mansion on Lake Shore Dr., and a summer home in Nags Head.

Like fame. To be able to travel anywhere in the world and be recognized & respected by anyone and everyone, receiving the “red carpet treatment” wherever one goes.

Like the “dream job” that perfectly taps into one’s talents & abilities, allowing one to feel a great sense of satisfaction and purpose in what they do on a daily basis.

Yet here was a 40+ year old man working in Subway who just didn’t seem to fit the mold. He was “Living the Dream?” As a Subway sandwich maker?

My curiosity got the best of me. Before I left, I walked up to the counter and asked him, “Sir, what do you attribute your great attitude to?” With a smile he replied, “Sir, if you knew where I came from compared to where I am today, you would know, and thank you so much for that feedback; you made my day!” And with that, he enthusiastically greeted the next Subway customer.

He didn’t fill in the details, but he didn’t need to. I knew I had just met someone who had a story, a history. And he came through to the other side, not holding onto the bitter memories of the past, but totally free from the bondage associated with it, and now abiding in a peace, joy, gratefulness, and appreciation for life that his disposition could not hide.

This experience has caused me to consider where I came from and where I am today. If you’re a Christian like myself, you’ll relate, because we believers all share in a generally common past. It’s important to remember that the spiritual realm is much more “real” than anything that pertains to the physical realm. Would you take some time with me to remember where we came from:

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and your sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit that is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.” (Ephesians 2:1-3)

“…remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.” (Ephesians 1:12)

And now, please take some time with me to consider who we are today and the blessings we have by the grace of God, through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on our behalf:

“But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in trangressions-it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:4-9)

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness and into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1st Peter 2:9-10)

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2nd Corinthians 5:17)

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3)

“For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:17)

“If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did nor spare his own Son but gave Him up for us all- how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things.” (Romans 8:31-32)